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Talk on human uniqueness at IU

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Mar 232013

“Humans are outliers,” begins the description of the talk next Thursday at Indiana University by Kim Hill. Yes, we are; we differ greatly from other species on the planet, and research across a range of disciplines is developing a consensus on how we got to be so different. Prof. Hill, of Arizona State University, will be giving a talk on this subject titled Origins of Human Uniqueness on Thursday, March 28 at 5 p.m. In Swain West 119 on the IU Bloomington campus. More information is available on the in this PDF. As far as I can tell, the public is welcome. If you're in the area, you might want to check it out.

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Talk on human evolution and tool-making in Bloomington

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Feb 172013

Those of you in Bloomington might be interested in an upcoming talk, The Technological Ape:
Human Evolution and the Rise of Tool-Making, by Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth of the Stone Age Institute. The talk is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 20, at Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union on the Indiana University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Happy Darwin Day!

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Feb 122013

People around the world are celebrating the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth on February 12, 1809. (Maybe you can find a Darwin Day event near you.) To mark the day, I thought I’d share this quote from The Descent of Man, which has particular resonance for me because it seems related to what I’ve been reading in Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.

As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all the members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races. If, indeed, such men are separated from him by great differences in appearance or habits, experience unfortunately shews us how long it is, before we look at them as our fellow-creatures. Sympathy beyond the confines of man, that is, humanity to the lower animals, seems to be one of the latest moral acquisitions. It is apparently unfelt by savages, except towards their pets. How little the old Romans knew of it is shewn by their abhorrent gladiatorial exhibitions. The very idea of humanity, as far as I could observe, was new to most of the Gauchos of the Pampas. This virtue, one of the noblest with which man is endowed, seems to arise incidentally from our sympathies becoming more tender and more widely diffused, until they are extended to all sentient beings. As soon as this virtue is honoured and practised by some few men, it spreads through instruction and example to the young, and eventually becomes incorporated in public opinion.

The Descent of Man, Chapter III: Comparison Of The Mental Powers Of Man And The Lower Animals

Darwin Day

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Feb 052013

The realization that humans were produced by a long, ongoing evolutionary process, like every other living thing on the planet, suggested that many magical or supernatural creation stories are best considered as myths or metaphors rather than as literal truths. It also caused profound changes in our view of ourselves and our place in nature. On February 12, people around the world will celebrate the life and work of Charles Darwin, who was born on that date in 1809 and whose work was crucial to that realization. The Secular Alliance of Indiana University is celebrating Darwin Day with several events spread out over the week beginning on Sunday, February 10. Check it out at their Darwin Week page. For a list of events in other parts of the world, visit the International Darwin Day Foundation’s events page.

Nov 172012

The Wall Street Journal offers an article on three neuromyths about how we learn. It’s not what we know that hurts us, Will Rogers is reported to have said, but what we know that isn’t so.

Permalink 11/17/2012 Posted by Mary at 10:30 am General 2 Responses »

My brain, hallucinating

Brain and mind, General 4 Responses »

Nov 122012

I recently picked up Hallucinations, the latest book by Oliver Sacks, at the library. In the introduction (all I’ve read so far), he subtly echoes the language of William James when he talks about his wish to describe about “the great range, the varieties, of hallucinatory experience, an essential part of the human condition.” The headline of a recent interview with Sacks notes that he wants to destigmatize hallucinations. So this seems as good a time as any to write a little about my own experiences with hypnopompic hallucinations, which occur when you’re waking up and can be bizarrely intertwined with dreams.
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Happy Carl Sagan Day!

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Nov 092012

Happy Carl Sagan Day! On the anniversary of Carl Sagan’s birth, people around the world celebrate the beauties of the natural world and the science that allows us to discover them. Maybe there’s an event near you listed on the Carl Sagan Day page, or maybe you’d like to watch an episode (or more) of Cosmos on Hulu (free). Better yet, watch with a child or teenager if you can.

I really like what Sagan had to say about living and about facing death:

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part of me will continue. But much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.
The world is so exquisite with so much love and moral depth, that there is no reason to deceive ourselves with pretty stories for which there’s little good evidence. Far better it seems to me, in our vulnerability, is to look death in the eye and to be grateful every day for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides. (From a 1996 article, “In the Valley of the Shadow,” in Parade)

Blog update

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Oct 282012

Over the next few days, the Thinking Meat Project is going to take on a new look. I hope that in the long run, the new look will make the site a more interesting place. In the short run, however, things may look peculiar from time to time. What with the election, the huge storm approaching the Eastern Seaboard, and whatever private worries and concerns you may have, I’m sure this news is very small potatoes indeed. However, I thought I’d mention it in case you visit the site in the next few days and wonder what on earth is going on.

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